Omicron Oracle articles
Brief History of the Omicron Oracle
The Omicron Oracle is the official magazine of the Omicron Alumni Association, published semi-annually and currently edited by Mark Fernau ’82 and published by Brett Ainsworth ’92. It has published continuously since 1935 except for a hiatus during World War II.
The 1960s: Defying the Era’s Stereotypes
The 1960s? You know the images: peace and freedom marches, love beads, draft-card burnings, marijuana and LSD, and campus protests.
Not, however, at Omicron. These clichés may have applied elsewhere during that turbulent decade, but for the most part, our fraternity— like many others at Cornell— was not a hotbed of unrest during the 1960s.
Editor’s note: In 1999, our chapter house at 125 Edgemoor Lane will be 100 years old; we have occupied the building since 1920. To help celebrate the anniversary, The Omicron Oracle is asking certain alumni to recall life at 125 Edgemoor Lane over the various decades that it has housed our fraternity. This issue’s article is by Henry McNulty and David Shannon, both ’69.
The 1940s: The War Temporarily Closes Omicron Zeta
Omicron Oracle
World War II at first meant the virtual disappearance of male students from college campuses. But the military soon realized that the effort to train great numbers of officers was being hampered by the educational level of the officer candidates. At the same time, many universities were hard pressed to survive financially with the loss of half their students.
Editor’s note: In 1999, our chapter house at 125 Edgemoor Lane will be 100 years old; we have occupied the house since 1920. To help celebrate the anniversary, The Omicron Oracle is asking certain alumni to recall life at 125 Edgemoor Lane over the various decades that it has housed our fratenrity. This article is by Robert F. McKinless ’48 and appeared in the August 1997 issue of the Oracle.
Claude E. Mitchell ’10 O-1
Omicron Oracle
When Claude Ellsworth Mitchell, or Mitch, as we called him then, first got off the train in Etna, he had all of five dollars on his person. As was the custom, I met Mitch at the train and brought him to the apartment where I was staying with Dick Kiliani and George W. Griffith. That was in the spring of 1908.
This brief biography of Brother Mitchell was written by Ernst J.C. Fischer ’10 O-34 for the February 1969 Omicron Oracle.